Exposed brick walls are something everyone loves to have in their lives. Just think about how warm and cozy they make you feel, the stories they tell, and how naturally beautiful they are in their raw form. They really do have the best personality and I've got proof.

I would love to cook up some old world italian cuisine in this industrial kitchen and tell stories about our travels through Tuscany.

The guests can stay in this room curated with pieces from travels around the world.

The brick reveals layers of history as it's exposed from beneath the plaster. The modern elements create a perfect juxtaposition.

Industrial dining at it's finest. It feels like a restaurant in the middle of your home! I love the contemporary chandelier design above the table.

Who wouldn't want to study in this library for hours and hours?! Oh the places you would go and things you would learn!

Working late hours in this office wouldn't seem like that big of a deal I don't suppose.

Moving into the garage couldn't be better!

Painted brick and cozy eclectic furniture truly make this room a conversation piece, with a modern pendant light above.

When you want your brick to be more you...just paint it pink!

Or seafoam green!

At this current time my fascination is with white brick walls! And... I've found a product that would allow every single one of us to have a brick wall! There is a new product on the market called Panel Piedra that comes in approx. 3' x 4' panels that can easily be installed over any wall. My white brick wall would need to be surrounded by natural woods, steel, bright colors, bold patterns, and soft organic shapes. It would look a little something like this...

Using concrete in your home will not only add aesthetic interest, but will also slash heating and cooling costs plus help preserve the environment. Concrete homes are durable, cost effective and super stylish.

This concrete living room above balances both colors and materials well. The concrete provides a clean slate for the modern furniture and stylish home decor accessories, allowing this framed art to really pop. The sofa, area rug and pillow poufs add beautiful soft textures to this hard surfaced interior.

In the same way that concrete allows the interior decor to stand out, it also helps the surrounding landscape seem even brighter and more bountiful. While allowing the environment to be noticed, it is simultaneously helping to preserve it by allowing a more efficient lifestyle.

The design of this eclectically modern living room uses the surrounding concrete materials to its advantage, highlighting all of the gorgeous texture and color. The soft eggplant upholstery and jewel tone area rug stand out beautifully against the soft gray floor and walls. Handsome brass floor lamps, like the one seen above, provide another smart contrast while the lamp shade and coffee table add a pop of white.

There's no reason the cool tones of steel, concrete and glass can't be warmed up on the exterior just like we've seen it done on the inside. This bright orange door adds both personality and warmth to this impressive modern home.

One of the major benefits to concrete homes is the ability to furnish with lots of wood. In a typical hardwood-floor home, you might want to monitor how many furniture pieces or accessories are made out of wood, but not here. Go ahead and express your love for this natural material in all color tones and sizes.

Whether you're a modernist at heart or you just enjoy clean design, concrete is a gorgeous material to use both inside and out.

So many goods are transported via container daily and these containers have shelf life just like everything else. After about 10 uses they can no longer be used and they end up piling up at ports all over. The use of shipping containers for construction is a brilliant idea. Although it is not the newest idea out there, innovative uses are popping up everyday and are taking the world by storm. Whether it be an entire shipping container mall with pop up retails shops, a restaurant opening up in Times Square, or hotel rooms inside a large warehouse. The simple construction allows these retail stores to pop up on almost any vacant urban lot for any amount of time. They are also continuing to be integrated into interiors of modern industrial spaces to reduce the construction costs, bring efficiency, and affordability to innovative green buildings.

Boxpark Shoreditch, said to be the world's first pop-up mall is constructed entirely out of recycled containers. 61 containers are combined to create a multi-level structure with spaces for both shopping and relaxing. This idea is wonderful for small businesses that cannot afford long leases and want to take an innovative approach into the market. Look for many more of these structures to be making an appearance in your neighborhood in the very near future!

25hours Hotel Hafencity in Hamburg, designed by Stephen Williams Associates, has used a shipping container in the lobby to enclose the conference center just off the main lobby. As you enter you feel like you're about to go on an adventure in a shipping warehouse beside the harbor in Hamburg. Everything from the plywood box desk, the industrial luggage trolleys, and industrial lighting make this destination a true adventure.

Snack Box, designed by Aedifica, takes the food truck off its wheels and stations it in one the most iconic spots in the world. It is an entirely self-sufficient structure and after a long day in Times Square it can easily be closed up and moved on. The visual identity and branding allow the structure to have a bold presence in this saturated environment. This is a true innovation for container architecture and usage in an urban setting.

When this travel and art obsessed San Francisco couple bought the 3,200 square foot former Chinese laundry and tooth powder factory they knew that had to do something incredible with it. How do we create volumes and rooms in this space without breaking it up into individual spaces and blocking the natural light that shines through the unit? Shipping Containers....of course!

The original idea for the guest room in the middle of the space was a railroad car, but the shipping container quickly became the answer! Copper piping, industrial sconces, and teak accents evoke the utilitarian feel of the cargo. Everything about this space is perfect to me!

Even Starbucks has tapped into the container market. The Reclamation Drive-Thru container coffee shop is part of Starbucks new branding strategy to encourage green building, reduce operating costs, and continue to stay innovative in their approach to environmental design in retail. I like the direction that they are going.

Yesterday, I introduced you to the fabulous ladies of Avenue Interior Design. If you missed the post, you can catch up here. There's no shortage of talent in this collaborative design team founded by Andrea DeRosa and Ashley Manhan. Their projects consist of a fun range including hospitality, residential, restaurants and night clubs.

Who What Wear Offices, Los Angeles (top three images) opened in April of 2011. This workplace has an open floor plan and looks super stylish. The eclectic combination of modern furniture and decor creates a unique look. The tall gold finish table lamps at every workstation are a nice detail. Here's what the girls had to say about this project:

Andrea/Ashley: Who What Wear is a fun fashion based website and after we were featured in Daily Candy in the spring of 2010, they asked us to design their offices. As you might expect, they were very savvy clients!

The Sayer’s Club, Hollywood, opened in Fall of 2011. The design delivers a chic look, creating a super cool place to hang out and listen to a band jam. The tufted leather sofas add elegance to this trendy hangout and the modern pendant lighting creates a mellow environment.

Andrea/Ashley:SBE Entertainment Group has made a name for itself in Los Angeles as having some of the hottest, most exclusive clubs in LA. Opened in the fall of 2011, the Sayer’s Club is no exception. The overall feel of the club is very relaxed, vintage, hip and industrial.

The Long Bar at the Borgata, Atlantic City opened in June of 2011. The sleek counter tops and textured wall coverings create a stylish place to mingle and relax. Here's what the girls had to say about the custom modern light fixtures developed for this project.

Andrea/Ashley: The client wanted a bar on the property that was modern, clean and casual. Previously, all the places to grab a drink on site where nightclubs or formal restaurants. The chandeliers were custom designed and were constructed of matte, black, acrylic domes with a hand applied gold leaf ‘interior’.

Thanks again to the ladies of Avenue and good luck on all your future projects, which are sure to be amazing!

The Palihotel in Los Angeles is an ideally located urban hotel designed especially to appeal to creative travelers of all ages. Located in the heart of the Melrose Ave. Shopping District in Los Angeles making this the perfect place for the urban traveler to stay. It is also the first boutique hotel to open in this famous area and is sure to become a popular destination to both anyone visiting LA as well as for the locals.

It has the sweet neighborhood charm, like you're walking into a friends house or a local cafe. It's a place you want to be, sit, and stay. The lobby walls are wrapped in cork with deep teal velvet curtains. The rich colors in the vintage oil paintings, the black and white photography, the unique mix of leathers and soft floral fabrics mix with the solid wood reception desk to create layers and layers of stories. You want to touch and feel and be part of this story just upon entering into the space.

PaliKitchen is an easy approachable "local" cafe located right off the lobby and also has convenient street access. The communal style dining area gives you that community feel, like a neighborhood cafe that's been here forever. The green and white hexagon flooring is visually stunning and creates some real positive upbeat energy in this space. The light blue-ish green glazed ceramic tiles cover all the walls and are a great contrast to the natural wood chairs and warm leathers.

The interior design makes you feel like you're ordering your artisan coffees, fine teas, and comfort food straight from the counter at a local main street general store. The industrial pendant lights glow softly on the matching steel countertops. This is the place where hotel guests can mingle with the locals without leaving the hotel. And the locals can mingle with the guests without ever feeling like they are in a hotel. The creative freedom and unconventional vibe make this a dining and gathering point one you'll be sure to come back to over and over again.

The rooms and the lobby are very cohesive in aesthetic. The materials of the lobby are repeated in the rooms to give you a warm, inviting, and relaxing space that feels very lived in. It's not overdone, overstyled, or overdesigned. It's like a perfect guest room in an urban country home that you might have a hard time leaving. But there's so much to do on these streets that there's no way you could really stay inside for long!

The scissor arm sconce and the industrial stool in the guest rooms looks amazing against the cork wall.

With an exterior clad in reclaimed wood with bright green lights, you definitely won't miss it when you drive by. So when you're in LA whether you're coming to stay or just driving by be sure to stop in and say hi. Grab a coffee, do some work, or read a book. This is the perfect spot for the modern urban explorer. It has everything you need and nothing you don't.